In honor of GiveBIG Tuesday, here’s an outstanding example of Paid Time-On. If you’re unaware, each one of our employees gets 40 hours a year of paid time to volunteer at causes they choose. It is one of our most-loved perks and a finalist for GeekWire‘s Perk of the Year in 2014.

“Paid Time-On is an amazing benefit,” says Peace, Doer Team Manager “I sit on the board for an understaffed nonprofit and they often need us to pitch in work hours. I never thought an employer would reward me for my volunteer service.”

Peace is on the board for Freedom Project Seattle, a nonprofit that undermines the industrial prison complex by reducing recidivism. Recidivism is the rate at which a previously incarcerated person returns to prisons. Researchers at the University of Washington and Seattle University have not only proven Freedom Project Seattle programs reduce recidivism, they also save Washington State five million dollars a year in taxpayer money.

Peace is using Paid Time-On to run an online fundraising event for Freedom Project Seattle in partnership with the Seattle Foundations’ #GiveBig day. One of their major donors has offered a $30,000 matching grant that Peace will try to galvanize the internet to match. Peace has created her own personal matching grant and our blog readers can join the fun. To participate, just write BPT in the comments of the donation form.

Peace offers, “If I can get 100 of my friends, family and peers to donate to Freedom Project Seattle, I will match their donations up to a thousand dollars. Donate a dollar if that’s what you can afford or $15 to celebrate our 15th anniversary. My goal: I want a hundred new people to begin to know our work.”

Films typically have goals that can be measured in earned revenue and audience size, with only the most artistic endeavours throwing economic concerns to the wind in favor of critical acclaim. But very rare are the films that put at the top of the priority list “starting a movement.”

Economics is rarely thought of as sexy or entertaining — thus, a new world economy theory is rarely the subject of a film. The thing that will move people to see this movie is not exciting explosions or high drama, vicariously experienced through the actors onscreen. The driving force will be the instinctive urge to share the mental pyrotechnics created by a concept so familiar, yet exciting, that it must be discussed, shared and measured! This movie will have a shelf life of a lifetime, fuelled by word of mouth — people talking about the concept to their friends, sponsoring viewing parties, and, finally, referencing it as the turning point when they changed how they lived their life.

The message of the film? Simply that the pursuit of money should not be prioritized above creating a more fulfilling life. The film uses the economic crisis as a bridge to understanding that a lack of money is not the end of the world, it may in fact be a beautiful beginning to a new economy. One based on a gift economy, wherein if just one thousand people saw the film and committed to new courses of action and mutual support, that could start a cascade of change towards a just, resilient economy. Read More…

Most Americans consider having Internet access as necessary as having heat, water or food in the house, but the surprising truth is that thousands in Washington State do not have regular, high speed access, or have no ability to interact on the World Wide Web.

Brown Paper Tickets is proud to announce its involvement with the State of Washington 2013 Digital Inclusion Summit. One of our Doers, Sabrina Roach, is on the steering committee for The Summit on Thursday, March 14 in Seattle, which will will provide a forum to share policy, curriculum research, and other resources, as well as promote digital inclusion efforts and needs in Washington State. Tickets are $50 and can be purchased right over here. Those without internet access, or who just prefer a live person to online registration, can call Brown Paper Tickets’ 24-hour live customer service hotline at 1-800-838-3006. Just another way Brown Paper Tickets builds community as a matter of doing business, guided by our Not-Just-For-Profit business model.

Digital Inclusion has focused on access, literacy, and providing meaningful content and services to the communities currently not using the Internet. The Digital Inclusion Summit is an opportunity to highlight solutions that will continue to drive broadband access and adoption and provide training and access to Internet facilities that help to make internet access a part of the human experience, not just for those in urban areas with enough financial privilege and education, but for all. The Summit will unveil some of Washington State’s achievements and setbacks in broadband adoption, a critical goal in an era when broadband is central to education, job search and training, economic development, and the information needs of communities. Read More…